deceptively

«deceptively» in Mova's school dictionary: in a way that makes something seem different from what it… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adverb (deceptively)

meaning for a pupil

1) Deceptively means in a way that makes something seem different from what it really is: "the question looks deceptively easy" means it seems easy but is actually hard. tree →

2) In house adverts, "deceptively spacious" means the house is bigger inside than it looks from outside. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths, a "deceptively simple" problem hides a trick: read carefully. In stories, a deceptively calm sea or a deceptively kind stranger warns the reader to be careful. Phrases: deceptively simple, deceptively easy, deceptively spacious, deceptively strong.

examples

• The puzzle looked deceptively easy, but nobody solved it. tree →
• The river looks deceptively calm, but the current is strong. tree →
• The house is deceptively spacious inside. tree →
• The little dog is deceptively strong. tree →
• It was a deceptively simple question with a trick. tree →
• The ice looked deceptively thick, so we stayed off it. tree →

note

Trap: "deceptively" can be unclear — "deceptively small" could mean it looks small but isn't, or looks big but is small. Usually it means the truth is the opposite of how it looks. Related: deceive, deception, deceptive.

In the corpora

• "Deceptively spacious" in a house advert usually means small (mostly UK).
• "Compact" in a house advert means small, and "deceptively spacious" usually means small too.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «deceptively» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.